


Time doesn't change for just anyone (but it does for me)

by PandiBear



Series: The Butterfly Effect [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Dealing With Loss, I Don't Even Know, M/M, but not for long, more characters will be introduced, more tags will be added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2016-07-30
Packaged: 2018-07-27 17:11:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7626985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PandiBear/pseuds/PandiBear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nobody can change time, what happens in the past cannot be altered.</p><p>Well that's what Taeil thought before he was given the chance to change the past. He uses this chance to save a dear friend and also a familiar stranger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time doesn't change for just anyone (but it does for me)

**Author's Note:**

> This was going to be a two-shot but if you guys want more after the first chapter I have a lot of ideas on how to make it a full length story.
> 
> If it does become a longer chaptered story I will try to add in the other NCT members.

The rain was pouring heavily, as it had been for the past 15 minutes. A young man in his early twenties was sitting alone on a bench in the local park, looking up at the sky with a saddened expression almost as if he was blaming it for everything that was wrong in his life.

'I guess the rain is mourning with me' Taeil thought sorrowfully, his hair was dripping wet, the water droplets rolling down his face as if they were trying to hide the tears that fell from his sad brown eyes. 

It had been just over a week since Taeil's best friend, Hansol, had his life taken from him in a fire at work, it had been a hotel fire which cause the place to shut down after the top two floors had been almost completely destroyed. The fire had also taken the life of a young guest at the hotel, Taeil had read about him in the paper but couldn't remember his name, he did however know that Hansol had died because he was trying to save the young man. 

It had only been a week since the fire and Taeil wasn't sure what he was supposed to do, Hansol was like a brother to him, they had know eachother since they were children. They had met in the first year of middle school after Hansol and his family had moved out of Busan so that he could attend school in Seoul, which is where they met and became inseparable. Johnny later joined the two during highschool after he had moved from Chicago, he had stuck himself to them becoming a permanent member of their group with his bright personality and positive outlook on mostly everything. 

Taeil could feel his phone vibrating in his pocket but couldn't bring himself to answer it, honestly he already knew it was Johnny calling because he was worried. The younger had probably come back to their apartment only to find Taeil, who hadn't left it in weeks, not there. He wanted to feel bad for making Johnny worry about him, especially as he also had to cope with his younger brother Jeno's grief as well, but all he could think about was Hansol. It turns out the world really was small as the young man who died alongside Hansol in the fire was a close friend of Johnny's brother.

Jeno had apparently known the other boy when he was still living in America, long before he had moved to Seoul with the rest of his family. The two boys had been close friends staying in contact even after Jeno had moved. The young boy had only recently come to Korea and was staying in the Hotel as he had not yet found an apartment to rent. Jeno had been devastated upon the news of his friends and Hansol's, who he was somewhat close with because of Johnny, death.

 

_-__-__-_

 

It had been about an hour and the rain had not stopped. Taeil remained seated on the bench, he let out a sigh knowing he should be going home already, it was no good sitting out here when all he will get from it is a cold or a possible flu.  
However the idea of the apartment made him quickly wipe the thoughts away, going home meant being closed into a small space full of suffercating memories of his best friend. 

Taeil's body was shivering under the layers of clothing which the rain had soaked through long ago meaning they were doing nothing to keep the boys thin body warm. He continued to sit there until he heard someone shout his name from the distance, turning to where he heard the voice he saw Johnny running towards his a look of worry clearly displayed on his face. As Johnny reached where he was sitting, Taeil could see that the boy was completely out of breath which meant the boy must have been looking for him for quite a while. Seeing this Taeil felt the earlier guilt resurface. 

Johnny looked at Taeil for a few moments, trying to assess what the boy might be thinking before releasing a huff which confused Taeil, he though he must have upset the boy quite a lot. Those thoughts were wiped away when Johnny sat down on the bench next to Taeil, clearly not minding if his trouser got wet, and hugged the older boy while slowly rubbing his back. 

They sat like this in silence for a few seconds before Johnny broke it by speaking softly into Taeil's ear. "Taeil-ah you know you're not alone." Hearing this Taeil felt a fresh stream of hot tears slide down his cheeks. "You know that I know how you feel, I miss him to but what would he do if he saw you like this" he said while pulling away so he could look into Taeil's eyes before he continued to speak. 

"I don't know about you but I think he would kill you for being like this, then he would come and kill me for allowing you to be like this, don't you think?"

Taeil chuckled lightly while nodding and wiping his eyes. The response made Johnny smile, happy to have made the older show any kind of positive emotion since the previous week. Honestly before today he had no idea what to do, for the last week he had to watch both Taeil and Jeno slowly fall apart and all he could do was watch, that is until he visited Yuta early that morning.

Yuta was Hansol's fiancé and also a close friend of theirs. They had know him for only about three years, Hansol knowing him for about five years after they had met when Hansol was studying in Japan for a year, the two had clicked and became a couple quickly afterwards. When the year was up and Hansol came back to Korea the two stayed together. After a year Yuta had moved to Korea so he could have a stable relationship with Hansol. 

Johnny had gone to visit Yuta that morning after the boy had come back from Japan after a short stay with his family. The two of them talked for a few hours, one thing that had come up was Taeil and how he was doing. Yuta had told Johnny about how his family had helped him cope and gave advice to Johnny on how he could help Taeil.

Clearly the advice had worked and Johnny had managed to cheer Taeil up, even if it was only briefly. Happy with the progress Johnny decided it would be best to quickly go home and get out of the rain because the last thing that he wanted was for Taeil to get sick. "We should go home and get dried it's freezing out here" he suggested quickly, Taeil nodded slightly and allowed the taller boy to drag him in the direction of their apartment.

 

_-__-__-_

 

A little over half an hour later, Taeil and Johnny, both in fresh, dry clothing, were seated at the kitchen counter with a warm drink. Taeil sighed in content as he breathed in the scent of the hot chocolate coming from the mug he was holding in his hands. 

After they had returned home, the two had showered and changed into fresh clothing before Johnny decided it would be best to just hang around the apartment so they could spend sometime together, Taeil had agreed to the idea knowing it would be good to be around someone who could understand him rather than sitting around while pitying himself. 

They had been talking about just everyday things when Taeil decided to take on a more serious topic, he knew that the sooner they talked about the better, but for now talking about Hansol was still too much. The good thing about talking to Johnny was that the boy never asked him how he was, he knew Hansol was not okay and honestly he probably was not doing much better himself. The two had an unspoken agreement that it would be better to avoid talking about Hansol for the time being. So instead Taeil chose to ask about Jeno.

"How's Jeno?" Taeil asked gently, unsure if it was a topic he should be approaching. He was relieved when Johnny gave a small unsure smile, the reaction was not to negative meaning he had not upset the younger with his question.

"I don't really know, he's been locking himself in his room for the last few days. He's taking Mark's death pretty bad, I mean it's understandable. I knew Mark pretty well when we were younger, the kid had a bright future ahead of him. It just doesn't seem fair, he was only nineteen years old, he didn't even have a chance to live his life." Johnny shook his head sadly, obviously becoming upset with the current topic. Taeil himself was becoming upset, not only for poor Mark, who he now felt guilty over forgetting the boys name early that day, it was also because the topic just made him think of Hansol. 

"It sounds pretty Bad" Taeil sympathised knowing he had been in the same condition just hours before. "It is I guess." Johnny sounded almost unsure of himself. "Jeno shouldn't be like this, he's supposed to be out having fun with friends, I know for a fact that Donghyuck and Jaemin are already worried about him." Johnny paused obviously remembering something.

"You know it's the same for you right? I wasn't the only one worried about you, Jaehyun, Taeyong, Doyoung, and even Yuta have been worried. They tried contacting you but you're not answering anyone's calls." Johnny said with fond smile, thinking of their friends who had been going around like worried mothers when they couldn't contact Taeil, Johnny was sure Doyoung was on the verge of calling the police with the way he was acting.

Taeil hummed in reply, he knew they worried but right now he just needed sometime for himself. Honestly after talking with Johnny earlier he was feeling slightly better, but not enough to have his friends crowding around him, that would be more suffercating than being here in the apartment and Taeil wasn't sure he was ready for that. 

"Hey you should go back to see your family." Johnny was about to disagree, clearly not liking the idea of Taeil being here by himself again, but Taeil cut him off before he could speak. "I'm not going to lie and say I'm okay, but I will be fine. Yuta was able to live normally, even though I know he was devastated after......that happened. So I'm going to do the same." Taeil said firmly. His face softened when he saw Johnny wore an almost lost expression, obviously not knowing what he should do. 

"Listen you already helped me, thanks to you I released I need to stop behaving like this. Like you said he wouldn't want that. Jeno on the other hand needs your help, so go home and support him. He just needs to know that his older brother is there for him" Taeil spoke in a softer voice, rubbing Johnny's arm in a comforting manner. It was weird not even an hour ago they were out in the pouring rain with Johnny comforting him, now he was comforting Johnny who had been to focused on helping others that he forgot that he also needed support.

Johnny nodded his head, before standing up and going into his room only to return a minute later with a jacket and an umbrella. Just before he reached the door of their apartment Johnny turned around to look directly at Taeil, who had followed behind to see him out. "Make sure you answer your phone, so no more ignoring it or I'll be straight back over here like a mother hen" he turned away from Taeil after the elder gave a mock salute, and opened the door.

Just before leaving he turned again "make sure you call the others as well or you'll have then all on our doorstep before the end of the week" Taeil just chucked at that, reply with an "I know" before pushing the taller boy out of the door and waving at him until he was out of sight. He quickly returned the kitchen to clean up the mugs that the two of them had left on the kitchen counter, then decided he should head off to bed. 

After washing up and brushing his teeth, Taeil went and sat on his bed. He was about to lay down when he heard his phone go off. Checking the caller ID he saw it was Yuta and hesitantly answered the phone. He was greeted by Yuta in a half irritated voice. "Hyung why are you only picking up the phone now?" he chuckled at this. 'I guess some things never change' he thought fondly. Yuta clearly wasn't impressed with him laughing at him and started scolding the older for laughing at him when he was being serious. 

After half an hour the two were talking happily, the conversation was light with no mention of Hansol. They keep this up until Taeil said he wanted to sleep and Yuta giving a quick 'good night' before hanging up. Taeil shook his head in amusement at the boys behaviour, he felt a lot happier after talking to Yuta.

After the phone call ended, he laid down in bed and waited for the sleep he so desperately needed, to claim him. After only a few minutes it did and Taeil was sleeping comfortably. 

 

_-__-__-_

 

Taeil woke up to the sound of his alarm and the smell of eggs. He quickly turned off his alarm and lay staring at the ceiling. There was three things wrong with the way he woke up (1. he hadn't set an alarm in over a week as he currently had a break from work (2. He should be the only one in the apartment and someone was cooking breakfast in his kitchen (3. He was only wearing his boxer shorts when he went to sleep wearing a loose white t-shirt and red shorts, and the boxers weren't even the same ones he was wearing yesterday. 

He thoughts were abruptly interrupted when he heard someone knock on his door. He decided not to before he heard the voice that he had so desperately been wanting to hear for the past week, calling him and telling him his breakfast was ready and that he needed to get ready for work. 

Taeil rushed out of bed, not even caring about his state of undress, and swung his door open so hard that the sound could be heard through the whole apartment and probably outside of it as well. In the next moment he came face to face with Hansol, who had rushed out of the kitchen with a somewhat annoyed expression after hearing the bang. Taeil could do nothing but stare at the boy in front of him, so Hansol decided to speak up in a teasing voice.

"Why are you staring at me like that? You look like you've seen a ghost." 

"I think I have"

**Author's Note:**

> If you have any questions you can comment below or find me on Twitter @IMnotYou99
> 
> Pandi (>^-^)>~♥


End file.
